


Insert Title Here

by Anonymous



Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29831397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: The runaway kid had lived within the confines of this place for far too long. He watched child after child be taken away by the Chefs and Janitor alike. He knew what became of them, and couldn't bare to stand by any longer. He planned his escape, but could never have planned for another boy to tag along.
Relationships: Mono/The Runaway Kid (Little Nightmares)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 91
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

It was uncommon to hear the children trapped aboard this ship talk. Many died within days of their arrival, few surviving long enough to be recognised by others. This made it hard to keep track of them all. The boy avoided all eye contact and interaction, so it was impossible for him to know with any degree of certainty how many children went missing each day. Was the kid in the bed beside him the same one there yesterday? Who knows. It didn't matter anyway. He never cared for any of them.

Love was a weakness here, alongside any sort of compassion. Odds are that the person you call a friend will be found in tomorrow's sausages. Or next week's. Or the one after. Everyone died sooner or later, either from trying to escape or staying docile and accepting it. Getting attached would only lead to pain. So, few children chose to speak.

This was why the boy couldn't help but listen in as hushed whispers filled the room while the other children slept.

"Are you sure about this?" Murmured a feminine voice, laced with fear and uncertainty.

"Of course, we can do this Red, it's the only way we can be together." The masculine voice reassured. The confidence seemed genuine, yet a slight tremor exposed the doubt.

"We could stay together here! We have food, bed-" The girl was cut off.

"Red look at me."

A short pause followed, the boy could only assume the girl had looked at the other, the room far too dark for him to see across to them.

"Every second we stay here, we could die. You've seen the kids go missing, you've heard the screams!"

He silently agreed with the other boy. The sobs and wails never failed to terrify him, even after all these years. It wasn't a sound you could drown out or get used to. 

"But-"

"No buts, I want to be with you, please Red, run away with me."

Silence was safe. The boy would always hear the Chefs and Guests walking around, silence meant they were far away. So why did it feel so… tense?

The girl took a deep breath, audible amidst the quiet.

"Okay Gray. Okay I'll do it."

He listened as the boy (Gray?) celebrated, his exaggerations making the girl, Red, giggle quietly. 

A part of him wanted so desperately to speak up. He didn't care about the two, but that didn't mean he wanted to watch more people die. Yet, his voice was gone, lost after years of disuse and he knew he couldn't dissuade them. He merely cracked his eyes open to watch them leave. 

The large wooden door creaked open, allowing beams of light to enter, momentarily blinding him. After a moment of thought, he swung his legs out the bed and walked towards the ajar door. He clutched the end with his hands and peered around it to look out at the landing.

His eyes locked onto the pair, faces oddly familiar, yet unrecognisable. They must have been here longer than most, like the boy himself. They ran, hand in hand, the boy leading the girl, towards the opposing room across the gap. He could vaguely make out their figures flipping the bed to reveal… a hole?

The pair jumped in, soon reappearing in the floor below. Distantly, a clock echoed through the ship. Ten chimes. He sighed yet couldn't turn away. He kept observing.

Once again joining hands, they ran towards a stack of crates creating a convenient staircase, footsteps echoing far too loud within the metal walls, yet they were oblivious. Maybe foolish enough to not care, but more likely too caught up in the adrenaline rush to notice.

But someone else did notice.

They passed before each large door, until the girl took pause. Feeling the resistance, the boy froze and turned around. Now that it was quiet, he too noticed it. Footsteps. Coming from his right.

He slowly turned in horror, just in time to see the door swing open with force to reveal the stout figure of the Janitor. He stayed rooted in place, holding his breath and refusing to even blink. A shaking of his hand caught his attention and from the corner of his eye he saw Red trembling. He squeezed her hand lightly in an attempt to comfort her but when the long armed man drew closer, he knew it was a lost cause.

The Janitor ground his teeth back and forth, reaching out to the ground around them, feeling and listening for anything or anyone. 

Gray could have wept for joy when he began to withdraw his hands, yet it was short lived.

With no warning, Red tore away, the fear too much for her. She bolted back towards the open room, hoping to hide in the tunnel yet failing to account for the Janitor's speed. Within seconds he was upon her, but before he could reach out a skeletal hand…

A noise distracted him. Shouting.

Gray stood in the centre of the walkway, arms stretched wide, yelling. He waved and stomped in an attempt to garner the attention of the Janitor, however now that he had it, he froze up. What should he do, he can't outrun him! Oh God, he didn't think this through! He went to jump from the ledge, in hopes the fall had less of a chance of death than being caught, yet before he could, he was snatched up.

The Janitor spun around and lunged at the source of the noise, spindly fingers grasping a warm body. A toothy, yellow grin spread across his face as he pulled his prey towards him, and sniffed. A human. It was lucky he caught the escapee. 

Pleased with his catch, the man reopened the door from which he came and left as suddenly as he'd entered, the last thing Red saw was the pale, terrified face of Gray in the clutches of that monster.

Once they were gone, the deafening silence returned. The boy, still in his room, looked down upon the girl and listened as she began to whimper. The shock was wearing off and what had happened began to set in. No one who had been taken by the Janitor had returned. It was a certain death sentence. She dropped to her knees and let out a wracking sob, body shaking with the force of it.

From there the dam broke, the boy could only stand there as she screamed and wailed, dropping to a fetal position, any sense of self preservation lost as she mourned her only love. The sounds awoke some of the others, the boy could hear their shifting and shuffling behind him. None of them reacted. This was common after all.

He quietly closed the door, the sounds now muffled yet still too loud for comfort. Climbing back into his hard, uncomfortable bed, he grabbed a piece of paper, and a stick soaked in the mysterious oil, from beneath his mattress. He used it as ink to add to the already cramped space, noting down, in small writing, the hole the pair had unknowingly exposed to him.

It fit perfectly, just beneath "The Janitor patroles floor one at ten", a note he made weeks ago.

Surprise flitted across his face as a small section of writing began to bleed. Confused, he raised a hand to his cheeks, feeling that they were damp. 

Frustrated, he scrubbed them away. He needed to get used to this. It was far from the first person he had seen get captured. So why did he care so much, for a person he'd never known? If he cared too much for others, he'd end up like that boy: a martyr. 

He shook his head, as if to shake the thoughts free, and placed the paper back where it was. Satisfied it was safely hidden, he rolled over onto his side and stared at the darkness until his eyelids grew heavy. He slowly drifted away, to what would certainly be a fitful sleep, to the sound of Red still crying. He could faintly make out one phrase: 

"I'm sorry"

Distantly, he wondered if she'd still be there when he awoke, if she'd go elsewhere or if she too would be taken. Judging by how loud she was, he could only assume the latter, but wished he was wrong. He could only hope, when he inevitably attempted to escape, it would go better than their attempt did. 

With that departing thought, he fell into familiar nightmares.


	2. Chapter 2

The boy awoke the following morning to thin beams of light piercing through the cracks in the walls. He considered returning to sleep, exhausted and preferring his fictitious nightmares to the real one, however a familiar pain made this impossible.

His stomach cried out for food, leaving him doubled over as it seemed to digest itself. The pain left his vision blurry and his head pounding, incapable of processing anything but his hunger.

He was used to this. The children were fed scraps, often left to scavenge for stray rats or leftovers. But he refused to indulge in the remaining meat. The thought of eating it sickened him far more than the hunger pangs.

Just as he swung his legs off the bed, ready to begin his search for something edible, he heard someone approaching. Only one person frequented the sleeping quarters, and that was-

The Janitor.

Was it 5 ready?! It didn't matter now, he dismissed his confusion in favour of logic. 

He stayed silent, knowing the consequences that were saved for those who wandered. 

The monster shuffled past his bed with no issue, pausing at a few others to feel if the occupants were still there. 

While the larger was distracted, he forced his feet under himself and he crept through the room, walking right, away from the other, carefully avoiding any stray blocks or toys. His eyes strained to make out the shapes of the clutter, for he knew his flashlight made a sound whenever it was switched on. 

Yet, avoiding every obstacle amidst the shadows was impossible. When he stood in a pile of broken glass, he froze, listening out for movement as he slowly turned to look at the figure of the Janitor within the darkness.

It was like a shadow puppet, he watched as what he thought to be his head swung around to look in his direction, yet could make out no features. The boy took advantage of the scraps of carpet laying around and carefully snuck across it, backing up as the larger approached.

He felt his back hit a wall and bit his lip to muffle his shaky breathing. The beast stopped where he had previously stood and ran his hands across the ground. The glass did nothing to harm him, years worth of calluses acting as armour.

After a minute that felt like a year, The Janitor ground his teeth back and forth, partially by habit and frustration. Yet he could only dismiss the noise. It was most likely one of those Nomes, scuttling about. And so, he turned around and left. There were many other rooms with children to check on, after all.

When the figure retreated, the boy could have wept with joy. He considered the carpet for a moment, and mentally thanked whoever had brought it here. For years he thought of it as a useless attempt at decor, but maybe…

Maybe someone left it here just for this purpose.

That left him to consider who, and when? He felt it had been here as long as he had. Did whoever left it escape? Or was it futile. Was his attempt going to be futile?

He could feel himself spiralling and it was fortunately cut short by another cramp in his abdomen. Tears sprung to his eyes at the feeling, yet he kept them back and he continued forwards, praying the growling of his stomach wasn't as loud as it seemed. 

He managed to slip out unnoticed by anyone, something he was extremely grateful for. He now stood within a rather small room, a cupboard more than anything, but to him, it was giant. It was a route he took often, one of the few ways to access the cafeteria. He climbed the familiar boxes, scaling the mesh doors and making the small leap to the old wooden shelf.

His weights impact caused it to let out a screaming creak, worn down from years of abuse. Taking care to avoid the rather large drop, it was a simple running jump to the vent. The boy felt shovers wrack his from, from weakness and the cold of the small vent.

A breeze made his hair stand on end, his knees and hands aching from the cold surface as he crawled. By now he was close enough that the wind carried the scent of food towards him

Although it was repulsive, the scent alone made his mouth water, if he closed his eyes and detached himself, he could almost pretend it was the delicious buffets prepared the day the Guests boarded each month.

However, that wasn't reality.

The reality was, whatever food he could scavenge would most likely be small and unfulfilling.

Yet as he dropped down, now only metres from the room, he couldn't care less.

The small distance felt like forever, his body aching and collapsing in on itself, leaving him stumbling, hunched over. He wasn't sure if he could drag himself to the entrance, a small broken section of bars far off the ground.

He could hardly walk, nevermind jump and climb.

He gripped the bars with trembling hands, pulling himself along, yet it was too much. He collapsed.

Everything outside the pain was erased, until something hit him, making him jump, eyes snapped open. There before him lay a miracle.

A single piece of bread.

Before he even knew he was moving, he began wolfing down the food, practically inhaling it, leaving no time to chew. He savoured it as best he could, but within seconds, it was all gone. He was mildly disappointed but that was nothing new, and he simply revelled in the feeling of being full and content.

Now that he could think clearly once more, he realised that something was wrong. Who gave him that bread?

Brow furrowed, he turned to his left and was confronted with another person, mere millimetres from his face. Eyes widened in shock and he stumbled back away, tripping over his still weak feet and galling back and letting out a noise that could only be described as a squeak in fear. Who was this?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who needs to write essays when you can write bad fanfiction! I swear I chose the worst time to start this. But thank you for the support! It reassures me that I'm not wasting the time I should spend revising! If even one person enjoys this, it's worth it! 
> 
> I checked Wattpad, and I'm so sad it has 10X more fics for this ship at least. But hey, now I have more to read! Poggers 
> 
> Also, I'm still trying to get a feel for this stuff. I just got my training wheels off, but I'm still wobbling, so uhh please be patient? I'm trying to improve I swear!

**Author's Note:**

> This is anonymous purely because my actual account is full of stories for one fandom, I'd feel weird suddenly throwing out this. Plus my friends follow that soo... no thanks lol. If you find this... don't tell me. Please.
> 
> Anywho, I have an awful habit of taking ages between updates randomly, life is hectic and all that, so if I vanish, I will be back! I won't abandon this! We need more of this ship dammit, I reread KittyKrazy's fic like ten times. 
> 
> Aaand, I write way too much. Which results in looong slow burns. Hence, we haven't even heard of Mono's existance. But we'll get there I swear! 
> 
> Also, last thing I swear, I hate sad endings so this will definately not end in heartbreak or death, sorry if you want that, I just don't like that stuff. Bleh. Maybe I'll write something like that one day, but not today! 
> 
> So yeah, yada yada, please comment, kudos etc. I live off the approval of strangers!


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